Being American is for Passengers

On cruise ships the crew is multi-national. There are people from all areas of the globe. Countries from all 6 continents are represented. One of the most surprising statistics among nationalities is the lack of Americans as crew. I’m one of less than a dozen Americans in the ship’s company. With a crew of over 1,000, that means that Americans make up less than 1% of the crew.

There are American guest entertainers onboard, and they really boost our numbers, but they’re not members of the ship’s company.

Americans make up about 75% of the passengers.

It's pretty amazing to live amongst a multi-national community, with so many cultures aboard.

Theaters and Ships

A lot of theater jargon comes from ships, since stage crew were often sailors who were looking for work between ships. The intricate rigging requirements of a theater are similar to the demands of a ship’s rigging. Knots are a necessary working requirement for climbers, sailors and theater technicians. Probably a few more professions in there, too, but this is my blog.

In old times, theaters and ships were mutually exclusive, drawing on the same skill sets of the same work force, but at completely separate times, in completely separate locales. Ships employed sailors on the sea, theaters employed sailors on the land.

It’s quite interesting to be on a ship while doing theater. While the two professions originally shared the sailor, each has evolved significantly. Now one person cannot do both jobs, unless they’re on two career paths. I could no more switch to maintaining the engines than an engineer could switch to programming moving lights. They’re similar skill sets, perhaps, but with completely different applications, and not interchangeable.

But it is still neat, when looking for some extra rope, to just run to the bosun and ask for some more line.

Guest Entertainers

Princess gets some good entertainment acts on their ships, apparently. I'm not very current in my live entertainer knowledge, so I haven't heard of anyone, but we have comics from last comic standing, a guy about to open an act in Vegas, the Beatlemaniacs and a spattering of other entertainers.

It's my job to design the lights for them. Sometimes the cues for them are already in the board (since acts occasionally rotate around to a ship they've been to before), sometimes they just need a general wash, and sometimes they're quite specific about what they want.

I spent 4 hours last night programming one of the specific requests for a concert tonight. That was a fun and rewarding undertaking, allowing me to play around with these toys that I'm now in charge of. The only down side was that I was programming from midnight to 4am, after a long day of fixing problems and running important conference events, starting at 6:45 in the morning.

It made for a long day.

This is where I work.

It’s a 15 million dollar theater spreading over 5 decks from pit to top of fly loft, and two decks for the audience. It seats 722 people in comfortable, well-spaced chairs. It has 3 automated lifts and 5 knife tracks in the stage for automation, 24 automated linesets, 4 overstage lighting box trusses, 30 speakers, 3 projectors, 2 front of house lighting trusses, 2 genie lifts and $750,000 worth of lighting equipment.

Here’s my side of the booth, with 4 consoles in my control, along with a video playback system and two spotlights. I mostly deal with the Whole Hog III, but I also have an Expression 3 desk, a 4-channel video mixer and a pyrotechnics control board.

In the theater, there are lectures, culinary demonstrations, movies, comedy acts, bands, talent shows and production shows. Everyday is different, but my schedule largely depends on whether we are at sea or in port. While at sea, we need to plan multiple activities at all times all day long. The Princess Theater is a big part of those entertainments, so sea days are busy for us. There’s usually a lecture in the morning, a movie in the early afternoon, another lecture or movie later, then two to three shows per night. In port, there are far fewer daytime activities, with maybe a movie or two, then the shows at night. I’m not responsible for movies, so that’s my time off. In between events, I rehearse shows with the company, design and program lights for upcoming acts, perform maintenance on the lighting rig, and currently, I help install the new show that’s getting loaded in for the next two months.

It’s a consistently busy schedule, and when paired with the project of learning my way around the ship, figuring out meal times and where I’m allowed to eat, and shipboard etiquette, it’s enough to keep me busy. But I’m thankful for the new show install, which makes everything a challenge. I like challenges.

A Brief Stop in Seattle

On our Alaska itinerary, our home port was Seattle, Washington. I did not get a chance to see it my first time there, since we had to load on our new show, but I did get a chance to see it my second time around. Which was fortunate, since it was also the last visit there this season.

I jumped on a bus to down town, walked around and settled into the 3rd Starbucks that I found. That seems to be a good rule, since the first one you see is right as you get somewhere. The second one is pretty soon after, but by the time you get to the 3rd, you’re ready for a bit of a sit-down. This rule works in the Pacific Northwest. Probably in major metropolitan areas as well.

I spent some time on the internet, since it was both free and fast. I caught up on my Wikipedia reference use, checked my mail and researched what I should do with my few hours in Seattle.

After that, it was look around the city briefly, do some shopping for necessities, and head back to the ship. It seems like all ports are falling into this pattern, but I’m hoping to do more excursions or more adventurous outings in the future. I chalk it up to both being busy and still settling in. Both of those things should pass.

I'm on a SHIP

I have been led to believe that a boat is a vessel that can go on or be carried by another vessel. Like a lifeboat. A ship can do no such thing.

So apparently I'm on a ship. Although there is debate as to whether our small Golden Princess would fit on the Gargantuan of the Seas, I think the Golden is still a ship.

Seasick

It’s hard to grasp the sheer power of the ocean.

Something about being aboard a 113,000 ton, 17-deck-high cruise ship that’s getting tossed about like a rag doll in 20-foot seas helps to drive the point home.

I have yet to gain my sea legs.

One Week at Sea

It's been one week since I went to sea. My world has changed.

I've been working long days, over 12 hours each day, to try to get organized, settled and up to speed. There are trainings that I have to attend, lectures I have to babysit, acts I have to design lights for and shows I have to run. Besides all that, the rig that I walked in on is in sore need of maintenance. Lamps are blown in most of the conventional units, the intelligent lighting fixtures stop working on a rotating (but inconsistent) basis, gel is burning through, and dust covers everything. I have to learn a new console, on top of it all.

In the middle of that mess, another show is loading on and getting ready to be installed, as the Golden Princess' entertainment gets upgraded along with the rest of the fleet's. Luckily, a lighting technician came with the install, so he's here for 2 months to help.

So it's a very busy time on the Golden. Unusually so. Usually handovers from one crew member to the next, at the end of contracts, take 1 week. Sometimes they're longer, especially for new hires on their first contract (like me), who need to get used to ship life as well as used to the rig and ship procedures. My handover lasted two days.

Added to the theater part of things, the whole ship is abuzz. We are at the end of the Alaskan season, and we have a repositioning cruise next week, taking us from Seattle to LA. On that cruise, 200 Princess VIPs will be coming on board. Something like the president, the CEO, the vice presidents of all the departments, etc etc. So everyone's preoccupied with that. That's over my head, and I don't worry myself with any of the preparations. I have enough light bulbs to change. It is annoying when all of the carpet gets ripped up around you, though.

After the repositioning cruise, we have a special luncheon on board for the members of the UN summit in LA. There will be high security and secret service, FBI, etc etc on board. Woah.

Then it's 4 days at sea, then Hawaii.

This week has been very instructive, but I suspect next week will be equally enlightening.

I'm on a BOAT

Yesterday I joined the Golden Princess, a grand class ship operated by Princess Cruise Lines.

I flew to Ketchikan, Alaska to meet the ship mid-route to join. I flew all day Wednesday, then will join on Thursday morning.

Talk about a whirlwind day. I'm still on Eastern Time, here in Alaska (4 hours back), so the early start didn't phase me, but the day kept going. From joining and signing on, to putting my stuff in a random cabin to getting a tour of the ship to getting introduced to the theater, the morning was long. The afternoon consisted of plunging right in and learning the console and the idiosyncrasies of the theater, getting the hand over from the previous lighting supervisor.

There were some quick meal breaks and some down time sprinkled in, then it was a two-show night. The previous lighting supervisor ran the first show, then it was my turn. After few hours on the ship, I ran the evening's main entertainment.

It just goes to show, theater is theater. As cobbled together as my experience is, and as horrible as my formal education was, somewhere along the line I managed to learn all the necessary procedures and protocols that I can walk onto a 3,000 passenger vessel, step into its lavish theater, sit at the control for its multi-million dollar rig, and run a show. I think I'll make it.

From Fringe to Fringe

From Edinburgh in August straight to Philadelphia in September, I've gone from one Fringe to another. Philadelphia's Fringe is a younger sibling to Scotland's arts epicenter. Originally inspired by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Philadelphia Fringe is undergoing an opposite evolution.

The Edinburgh Fringe is a reaction against the Edinburgh International Festival, which is a curated festival with lots of funding and support. It's very exclusive, very small and very elite. Not many works get in. So I imagine that some enterprising individuals started it by squatting and riding the EIF's fame and marketing. And now the Fringe is better-known, bigger and more popular than the EIF.

Enter Philadelphia. Well, not really enter. Cut to Philadelphia. Inspired by the Edinburgh Fringe, the founder wanted that in his city, and the Fringe was born. It grew to become an explosion of theater in Philadelphia for two weeks in September. Then, during its life, a curated festival evolved. The Live Arts festival became a festival within a festival, with funding, support and invitations. Over the years, the Live Arts festival has grown to eclipse the Fringe, becoming better-known, bigger and more popular than the Fringe.

So you see, opposites.

I leave Edinburgh to return to my sometimes-home of Philadelphia, and having a great time in September. I love Philadelphia in September (aside from the heat that's just breaking). The city is abuzz with art and theater, all the theater artists are busy and excited, and there is tons of work available. I get to work with the best in the city, on exciting shows by companies from around the world. It's a fast-paced, lucrative, satisfying and informative two weeks.